US probes Venezuelan purchase of electronic voting firm

Federal authorities are investigation an Oakland, California-based software firm and its purchase by a Venezuelan-owned company tied to Hugo Chavez.

Concern is that the regime or its supporters could tamper with elections in the United States and in other countries by rigging the electronic balloting.

The New York Times picks up the story broken by the Miami Herald.

"The inquiry on the eve of the midterm elections is being conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, the same panel of 12 government agencies that reviewed the abortive attempt by a company in Dubai to take over operations at six American ports earlier this year," according to the Times.

"The committee’s formal inquiry into Smartmatic and its subsidiary, Sequoia Voting Systems of Oakland, Calif.," the Times reports. Smartmatic and the Venezuelan government deny any nefariousness.